Celebrating success
The Director General of MPI, Ray Smith says it's important for his department to celebrate the success of a whole range of groups and people around the country.
Labour's primary industries spokesman Damien O’Connor is concerned that trade-related issues may be overriding biosecurity issues.
His comments come as MPI tries to catch the latest batch of Queensland fruit flies, discovered in Auckland last month. O’Connor says he’s seen MPI reports in which trade considerations have been seen as “preeminent”.
“My concern has been for years that biosecurity has been pushed to one side or has been usurped by trade considerations. So whenever there might be a need to increase the level of scrutiny at the border it’s been pushed back by people who believe it could be seen as non-tariff trade barriers.”
However, O’Connor says he doesn’t see the biosecurity risk increasing as New Zealand moves to secure more free trade agreements. (FTAs). He says all the FTAs New Zealand has signed, including the one with China, have left in place our sovereign right to protect our borders.
“That will always be the case. From a biosecurity perspective those things should never be traded away and I don’t think they have been, but officials get overly sensitive to the issue of non-tariff trade barriers.”
O’Connor won’t comment about what is happening ‘on the ground’ in Auckland; he trusts MPI staff will be doing all they can to deal with the problem. But he is concerned about the overall capability of MPI to deal with the fruit fly incursion.
“I have [heard] that in other core areas of MPI’s responsibility some expertise has been diluted as the tasks have become more generic. I’m sure they’ll have people on the ground who’ve been roped in and that’s good. But I guess [dilution of expertise is in] the nature of having a big multi-task organisation.”
Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) says access to personal banking services in rural communities is fundamental to promoting outcomes that benefit Kiwi consumers.
A group set up to boost education and promotion of wool says it has made positive strides during the first year of its three-year strategy.
Meat processor ANZCO Foods says despite a challenging business environment, it has posted a net profit before tax of $61 million for 2023.
The deer industry is working on getting more venison into Asia.
The red meat sector is welcoming the start of trade negotiations between New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Meat processor Alliance Group's cash-strapped farmer shareholders face a dilemma - either pour more money into the co-operative or risk losing 100% ownership and control.